Episode 60 Dr. Heather Carpenter - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home

Dr. Heather Carpenter, the Director of INAR, the Institute for Nonprofit Administration & Research at LSU Shreveport, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:

0:29 1. Heather, you are the Director of INAR, the Institute for Nonprofit Administration & Research at LSU Shreveport.

INAR was established in 2001 to conduct research and disseminate knowledge about nonprofit organizations and social research. INAR offers nonprofit education programs, professional development seminars, and quality research and statistical analysis to clients.

My goal today is to make people better understand INAR and the important role it is playing in our community.

Let’s start here. What nonprofit certificates and degrees does LSUS currently offer and how will its offering expand beginning this fall?

4:49 2. You once said, “Plentiful job opportunities exist in the nonprofit sector as 8% of the Louisiana workforce is employed at nonprofit organizations. Those opportunities exist locally as well, with approximately 2,000 nonprofit organizations employing nearly 20,000 workers in the Shreveport-Bossier area.”

Can you talk about how many nonprofit degree programs, similar to what INAR offers, exist locally and in the state?

8:00 3. You also once said, “My mission and passion is to help people run more effective nonprofit organizations.”

One of the ways that INAR achieves the above is by providing consulting services to existing nonprofits and to people wanting to start a nonprofit.

Can you talk about the consulting services offered by INAR?

11:53 4. Many people locally know the name LANO which stands for Louisiana Alliance for Nonprofits. I know you partner a great deal with the LANO office out of Baton Rouge.

My first question is, does LANO still have an office locally?

13:32 5. In September of this year, nonprofit professionals from across the state will descend upon LSU Shreveport’s campus for the Statewide Conference For Louisiana’s Nonprofits. This conference is the result of a partnership between INAR and LANO.

Talk to me about what we can expect from the September 20 conference?

17:18 6. Lastly, let’s talk about another aspect of your partnership with LANO. Thanks to a generous grant from the Carolyn W and Charles T Beaird Family Foundation, INAR is currently hosting a capacity building cohort for nonprofit leaders in the Shreveport-Bossier region.

Talk to me if you could about the cohort, how it works and why this is such an important offering to our nonprofit community.